Search for missing woman called off

36-year-old dove into lake from MC lighthouse pier.

36-year-old dove into lake from MC lighthouse pier.

October 20, 2006|STAN MADDUX Tribune Correspondent

MICHIGAN CITY -- It's now a matter of waiting after an extensive search failed to turn up a South Bend woman now presumed dead in Lake Michigan. "Once this amount of time has elapsed, it's like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack," said Gene Davis, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Divers covered about one square mile area from where Melissa Brown, 36, jumped into the turbulent 50 degree water, police said. About 4 a.m. Saturday, police were called when someone discovered Brown on the lighthouse pier in Michigan City threatening to jump into the windswept waters, according to authorities. Officers ran toward her on the pier as 8 to 10 foot waves, aided by northwest winds of more than 30 miles per hour, crashed over the rocks. Soon after urging her to come down, though, she plunged into the water, police said. The officers, fighting the waves to stay on the pier, called out to her and saw her head pop up from the surface, but by then the current had taken her 100 feet or more from the lighthouse, said Michigan City Assistant Police Chief John Kintzele. "Unfortunately, when they got out there, things happened fast," Kintzele said. Among the responding agencies was the U.S. Coast Guard, which deployed its 47-foot heavy weather boat. The search was limited, though, by high waves preventing the large watercraft from getting too close to the rocks. "We had to stay a pretty good ways away," said Jonathon Pickett, a petty officer at the U.S. Coast Guard Michigan City station. Divers had to wait until Monday to get into the water to search, which continued on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Davis said a search of the water's surface was conducted by boat from Michigan City to New Buffalo. Further searches of the water and shoreline from a boat or all-terrain vehicle will occur. But, Davis said "other than that, we're just basically going to have to rely on her washing to shore or somebody incidentally finding her." Kintzele said information about the case will be kept on file so if the body is recovered in another jurisdiction the records can help in the identification. "We're hoping there will be some sort of closure for the family so they can get on with the healing process," Kintzele said.